Phone books.  Policy manuals.  Reference guides.  These physical knowledge sources rarely reach the dog-eared stage because nowadays their accuracy, comprehensiveness and relevance are outdated almost as soon as they’re printed — sometimes while they’re being printed.  Web-based resources are today’s standard professional references, as any new task or project involves Web-based research and access to internal content and project systems.  The paperless office may not yet be a reality globally, but it is present in the majority of workplaces and is largely facilitated through Web access to knowledge assets and productivity tools.  Web access plays several roles in firms today, ranging from the creation, capture and classification of assets to their searching, sharing, business processing and mobile access.

 

DM Is in Demand

Enterprise document management (DM) streamlines operational efficiency, eliminates duplicated effort and accelerates retrieval of content within context.  Many firms knowledge assets are created and captured through document management activities, and DM services available today are as full-featured in their Web form as they are from Windows desktops.  Application integration, version control, folder management, imaging, text indexing, searching and user and role-based security controls are all commonly used from Web browsers.  Web users access a unified content repository housing all types of knowledge assets, including documents, electronic records, e-mail messages, Web content, instant messaging threads and reports.

 

Firm staff seek Web access not only to documents but to electronic and physical records of all media types as well.  Law firm users can access matter-based records indices governing captured electronic and physical file components accessed from Web browsers and portals, while corporate legal departments can navigate dynamic record taxonomy structures organized by business unit, department or other functional grouping.

 

Realize the Risks

But Web access to records is the tip of the records management iceberg.  Today’s governance culture, with its mounting set of regulatory bodies, legislation and standards, creates risk for any organization that does not manage business-critical information properly.  The consequences of failure to adequately mitigate this risk can be dire as evidenced by the string of recent scandals that have shaken public trust, not to mention the fate of several major corporations. 

 

Progressive organizations are formalizing records policies and are looking to integrated records management systems to protect, organize and manage the entire lifecycle of critical content.  Web- based records administration quickly facilitates adherence to firm governance policies and relevant lifecycle management.

 

But a firm’s success cannot rely only upon content in document and record systems; critical reference information from other firm databases and systems, as well as external research sites and services, is constantly incorporated.  Fee earners lose productivity wading through a multitude of systems and conducting repetitive searches.  Web-based DM interfaces are evolving into enterprise portals that include the indexing of, and access to, these vital resources, enabling users to conduct a single, unified search against available intellectual capital and return relevant data regardless of source.  Users can then quickly navigate amalgamated search results based on relevance, concept clustering or source and identify target assets via key word highlighting and document summaries.

 

The Rise of Extranets

Firms are increasingly turning to extranets to interact with outside counsel and clients, and documents are created and shared extensively in these environments.  Meetings, instant messaging, workflow, security concerns and best practice capture join document activity within Web-based collaborative project workspaces.  Via the Web, virtual legal teams and clients can improve the way they work by quickly brainstorming ideas, setting timelines and milestones, clarifying objectives, sharing information, and meeting deadlines — all in real time.  While document management plays a key role in the collaboration process, the human factor and results-oriented nature of Web collaboration frameworks add tremendous benefit to firm productivity.

 

Firm processes demand that people, enterprise business systems and content must work together seamlessly to increase productivity, improve client relationships and speed decisions.  Web-based workflow tools meet this demand, empowering legal professionals to easily define, apply and reuse business logic and processes.  Before billable work can even begin, manual and labor-intensive processes surrounding new business intake and conflict searches can challenge firms of every size.  But with Web access to workflow, procedures can automate and streamline the new business intake process — from the numerous forms that must be routed and approved to the management of that process — and conflict searches and reports are accelerated and standardized to ensure that no important steps are skipped.  These myriad processes typically involve forms and content housed not only in document management repositories, but also in accounting and data warehouse systems. 

 

Web workflow applications connect these knowledge resources to hasten the flow of information in the firm and improve productivity.

 

Today, the means of Web access to firm resources is continuing to evolve.  Increasingly mobile users rely not only on Web access to firm assets but also upon mobile devices.  Expectations of mobile workers extend beyond passive access to enterprise applications to include “actionable mobility” — the ability to respond to outstanding tasks and resolve them while at the customer site — enabling decision-making and deal closing from any location.  Mobile enterprise solutions are emerging that are tightly and securely integrated with critical business systems and optimized for the host of devices that knowledge workers have come to rely on.  Professionals, clients and business partners are able to access enterprise content, make informed decisions and take action no matter where they are, capitalizing on opportunities that would have been missed in the pre-mobile enterprise.

 

Agility = Success

Winning in the competitive global marketplace requires agility to leverage content dispersed across the organization to enhance service delivery, improve efficiency and reduce risk.  Users seek Web access from various devices to firm assets regardless of source, media and process or lifecycle state.  Web DM is a critical part of meeting these requirements, and its integration with other key systems is no longer an option — it’s a given.

 

About our author . . .